Hawke, Costello set to play Gulf

They sat on opposite sides of the chamber in Canberra, but
Bob Hawke
and
Peter Costello
will join forces next month to lead a business delegation on a five-city tour of the oil-rich Persian Gulf.

The pair are part of a 15-strong group representing the newly formed Australia Gulf Council. The not-for-profit organisation aims to promote trade and investment between the six Gulf states and Australia.

The nine-day mission will visit Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Kuwait. It will meet government officials, business chambers and sovereign wealth funds – the five state-owned wealth funds in the Gulf have assets of more than $US1.3 trillion.

Mr Hawke was Australia’s longest-serving Labor prime minister and could be the country’s first leader, sitting or retired, to visit Saudi Arabia.

“This business mission will provide an opportunity for individual companies to have exposure to valuable high-level business links," Mr Hawke said.

Mr Costello was Australia’s longest serving treasurer. He retired from his safe Liberal seat in Melbourne last year and now works for investment bank BKK Partners.

“Many Australian companies have done well in opening markets in the Gulf region," he said. “There is now a great opportunity to tap inward investment from the Gulf region to Australia."

The former politicians will be joined on the trip by the chairman of Competitive Foods Australia,
Jack Cowin
, whose family owns fast-food outlets including Burger King and KFC. Mr Cowin is a director of
Ten Network
.

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Taine Moufarrige
, a director of serviced-office provider Servcorp and Alastair Walton, the chairman of BKK Partners, will also be on board, as will representatives of construction company
Leighton Holdings
and property group
GPT
.

Mr Walton is chairman of the Australia Gulf Council, while former NSW Liberal politician
Michael Yabsley
is chief executive.

The council held its first event in Sydney last month. The Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade,
Dennis Richardson
, spoke.

Australia has been negotiating a free-trade agreement with the Gulf states since May 2007.

The idea is to replicate the work done by the European Australia Business Council. It regularly hosts European politicians and recently accompanied Prime Minister
Julia Gillard
to Brussels.